Spotify is finally making moves to go public

Apple Music’s biggest competitor is about to become a publicly traded company.

In an effort to finally become profitable, Spotify has reportedly filed IPO documents confidentially with the SEC and the stock could be available to the public soon.

Spotify’s filing came at the end of December, according to a report from Axios citing multiple sources. Wall Street has been anticipating an IPO from Spotify for years now and it may finally come during the first quarter of 2017.

Despite having more paid subscribers than any other music streaming service, Spotify still hasn’t reached profitability. Cash from investors could fix that temporarily. However, Apple Music boss Jimmy Iovine recently mused that the company is going to need to start selling something other than music to be profitable.

“Amazon sells Prime; Apple sells telephones and iPads; Spotify, they’re going to have to figure out a way to get that audience to buy something else,” said Iovine in a recent interview.

Based on the report, Spotify is pursuing a direct listing. Instead of going for a traditional float, Spotify will be able to avoid some of the usual IPO activities like the road show. Spotify declined to comment on the story indicating it could be under a quiet period before the IPO.

A copyright infringement lawsuit was filed against Spotify yesterday seeking damages of $1.6 billion in unpaid streaming royalties. Some of the thousands of songs in the lawsuit include music by Tom Petty, Neil Young and the Doors. It’s unclear how that lawsuit could affect Spotify’s IPO at this time, but it could be a discouraging sign for potential investors.